Farro Pilaf

Farro is not a wheat but a plant and a grain similar to spelt mainly grown in Italy.  Farro has a nutty taste with an overtone of oatmeal and barley and is a bit chewy and delicious in soups and salads.   You need to soak farro for 8 hours before you use it, so it was nice to see that Trader Joe’s now carries a 10 minute farro.  They also have a 10 minute barley so it is great to make pilafs with them for a different and healthy side dish.  It actually took more like 20 minutes, but still a lot less cooking time.  I sautéed an onion, red pepper and celery and lightly toasted the farro in olive oil.  Then I added chicken broth and thyme and cooked it for about 20 minutes until the broth had absorbed into the farro.  You could add more broth to make it a little soupy and add Parmesan cheese and make it more like a risotto.  Click here for the recipe….